Enablers: Blown Realms And Stalled Explosions

Morphing from the Poetry Slams of yesteryear, Enablers are the first Spoken Word band I've really come across. Yes I've heard Jello Biafra's output, but those albums were purely spoken word releases, whereas Enablers add an Avant-garde/Art-Rock backing to the political musings of their "vocalist" Pete Simonelli. Now I have to be honest and say that while I have no issues with bands or songs with serious subject matter, personally I listen to music to escape the "outside world", not to have it dissected and relayed to me in lyrical form and on that level, myself and Enablers will struggle to connect (I'll leave you to discover the lyric's political ideals for yourself, as a full review covering them would be ginormous – fair to say that they are an interesting and insightful, if not always agreeable take on life in general). However musically and in fact vocally, Enablers do make for a compelling, if challenging act with which to engage.

The songs themselves are on the whole sparsely arranged, with busy percussion laying the groundwork for restrained guitars, roaming bass and punctuating piano and Wurlitzer. Every now and again an explosion of riffs and thunderous drums smashes you between the eyes, barely pausing for a moments respite while the short bursts of mayhem ensue, before everything falls back into the less anguished angular pattern from before. The spaces in the music are put in place intentionally to allow the words to hit home clearly and it has to be said that not only is Simonelli's vocal delivery rather hypnotic and seductive, but it sits absolutely perfectly within its musical surroundings. The songs themselves are in places eclectic, brash, beautiful and bold, although in others the effect really can be all a bit grating and hard to live with.

How much politics and ideals you like with your music will very much determine how much enjoyment you get from Enablers, although there is very much to be impressed with musically. Either way this is not a CD you can "get" unless you have the time to truly devote yourself to it and the best results definitely come from surrounding yourself in the deep, dark themes, preferably through a good pair of headphones.

Track Listing
1. Patton
2. Cliff
3. Career-Minded Individual
4. Morandi: Natura Morta #86
5. No, Not Gently
6. The Reader
7. Hard Love Seat
8. Rue Girardon
9. Visitacion Valley
10. A Poem For Heroes

Added: November 28th 2011
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Enablers BandCamp
Hits: 1910
Language: english

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